358 Shufeldt, Osteology of the Passenger Pigeon. [july 



cornfield." About this same time, James Stuart in a journey 

 from Montgomery to Mobile finds the ^ "wild turkey abounds in 

 these (Chattahoochee River) woods, and when fat is an excellent 

 bird: but as the wild turkeys are shot indiscriminately, they are 

 often brought to table when they have not been sufficiently fed. 

 I was always better pleased to see the tame than the wild turkey 

 on the table." Finally, concerning the tame form, Zadock Thomp- 

 son says in 1842, that ^ " The Domestic Turkey sprung from this 

 species, and was sent from Mexico to Spain in the 16th century. 

 It was introduced into England in 1524, and into France and other 

 parts of Europe about the same time." 



OSTEOLOGY OF THE PASSENGER PIGEON {EC TO- 

 PIS TES MIGRATORIUS). 



BY DK. R. W. SHUFELDT. 



Plate XXXIV. 



As far as I have been able to ascertain, there appears to be but 

 one living specimen of Edopistes migratorius in North America, 

 and that one is a captive at the Zoological Garden of Cincinnati, 

 Ohio, where, at the present writing, Mr. Stephan writes me it is 

 doing well. When it dies, the species will be utterly extinct in this 

 country, where formerly it existed in enormous flocks, often num- 

 bering many millions. Personally, I have witnessed but one 

 flight of this pigeon, and that was early in the 70's at New Canaan, 

 Connecticut, the second day of which I shot about flfty birds. 



There has been no complete account published of the osteology 

 of this bird, and certainly no good figures of its skeleton, though I 



1 Stuart, James. Three Years in North America. Edinburgh, 1833, Vol. II, 

 p. 214. 



2 Thompson, Zadock. History of Vermont. Natiiral, Civil and Statistical. 

 Burlington, p. 101. ' 



